The Cobb County School District (CCSD) is a leader in K12 for
preparing our students for the 21st Century.
Cobb Virtual Academy offers high quality, Internet-delivered high school courses
that equip CCSD students to thrive in the complex life and work
environment of the 21st Century. Since Summer 2001,
CVA has served over 13000 students.
During the 2013-2014 school year, CVA served almost
3000 students.

Traditionally, Cobb Virtual Academy has offered tuition courses to students
who wish to take a class in addition to their regular school day
schedule. In accordance with the Georgia Virtual School legislation
signed by the Governor in May 2005, Cobb
Virtual Academy offers online courses to students as part of the regular
school day. In July 2012, Senate Bill 289 was enacted guaranteeing
students the opportunity to take online courses.

A virtual school can be defined as a location where students can
complete their coursework online, while the student and teacher work
together from a distance. In a virtual environment, students
work at their own pace (within broad deadlines) and complete a
combination of assignments; tests; quizzes; projects; and
assessments that permit a teacher to follow the educational progress
of the student. Cobb Virtual Academy offers the hallmarks of truly effective
traditional education programs – quality teachers, quality
curriculum, and frequent student-teacher interaction. All courses
are taught by CCSD teachers and meet national, state
and Cobb County School District curriculum standards.

By participating in Cobb Virtual Academy, students are part of a
growing national trend in K-16 education. K-12 online
learning is growing at 30% annually and with an estimated 1,000,000
enrollments in K-12 online courses in the United States in 2008, according to the North American Council for Online
Learning, a cyber school advocacy group. With
more than a million American
K-12 students enrolled in some form of online learning, Clayton Christensen from Harvard Business School projects that 50
percent of all high school courses in America will be offered online
by 2019.Schools are using online
learning and virtual schools in innovative ways to provide rigorous
courses, effective teachers and more engaging curriculum and
personalized instruction to students. At the same time, students are
learning critical 21st century technology skills. From enhancing
academic continuity plans during school closures to providing
college dual-enrollment courses online within high schools, online
learning is helping to keep students on track for graduating on-time
and becoming ready for higher education,
corporate or military experiences.

Why is online learning catching on so quickly? Thirty-four
percent of high schools in the United States do not offer Advanced
Placement courses. Now, students can pursue these online. Every
child learns differently, and online learning provides
individualized instruction at a student's own pace. Students who are
being bullied or tired of distractions in the classroom find that
taking courses online allows them to focus academically and achieve
more. Students missing required graduation credits because of
scheduling conflicts or past failures can catch up by taking online
courses and graduate on time. Online learning also can be an answer
for students pursuing elite sports, artistic careers, or those who
are homebound due to illness.

But beyond meeting the immediate unique needs of specific
students, online education may be essential for our nation's
long-term success in this globally competitive world. The
Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified key skills such
as technology literacy, self-directed learning, and problem-solving
that are explicitly addressed through online learning. Meanwhile,
nations such as China, Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Turkey and New
Zealand have leapfrogged ahead of the United States to embrace
online learning as an essential part of expanding access to their
education systems.

In addition to rigorous course content that meets state and
district performance standards, Cobb Virtual
Academy's online learning
environment fosters creativity, critical
thinking, communication, and collaboration, as well as mastery of
information, media, and technology skills--all of which are
"essential for preparing students for the future.

Students entering a virtual school environment need some basic
characteristics to be successful in the online environment.
The first is to be autonomous with the ability to self-regulate the
learning environment. Students need to be responsible because
they must learn independently while setting their own schedules.
The most successful online students are computer literate, self
disciplined and motivated. These life and
career skills, such as flexibility, accountability, innovation,
self-direction, and responsibility are skills that many U.S.
employers say are increasingly hard to find among prospective
employees.